Stypula 1

Harrison Stypula

Dr. Laura Patterson

SEL 273 01

2/3/22

Rested to Exhaustion: Results of Isolation and Exhaustion Presented in Gilman’s The Yellow

Wallpaper and Plath’s The Bell Jar

In both The Yellow Wallpaper and The Bell Jar we are presented with examples of how

inactivity and isolation have extremely negative effects on the protagonists of their respective

stories. Where these two characters differ however, can be seen in the way they react and cope

with the isolation they are suffering from. In the case of Gilman’s protagonist, this is a forced

isolation, a rest cure pushed on her by her husband and brother-in-law, and for Esther, Plath’s

protagonist, it is closer to a self-imposed isolation that she becomes caught in. When looking at

both cases together, there is a significant similarity found in their behavior after becoming

trapped in this new state of meaninglessness. The similarity being, that they both fall prey to an

exhaustion as a result of the endless tediousness that they are surrounded by.

For the protagonist of The Yellow Wallpaper, we see early on that her passion for keeping

her journal has been drained from her as a result of the rest cure she was put under, as she says

on page 648, “I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal –

having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition.” (Gilman) which demonstrates

her tiredness not only from writing, but the very act of having to hide it from others. From this

we can reason the exhaustion she feels throughout the plot.

In the case of Esther, she develops a similar trouble after returning home for the summer,

with little to do besides stay indoors and read or write, something she soon loses the ability to do
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so. The first sign of her deteriorating mental condition is present during her mother’s lesson to

her on shorthand, when “the white chalk curlicues blurred into senselessness” and she gives up

on trying to learn it (Plath 122). Her condition worsens when she attempts to read the following

morning, and “the letters [grow] barbs and rams’ horns” and begin to jiggle up and down and

prevent her from reading further (Plath 124).

Where these cases differ significantly however, are the two very different ways the

protagonists proceed with coping. Following her words that she grows terribly tired from

writing, Gilman’s protagonist nevertheless continues to write despite the exhaustion, taking it up

with more vigor even, which allows her to slip easier into the world that she has created from the

wallpaper surrounding her as a means of coping. Esther on the other hand falls into an even

deeper state of depression and further loses the ability to read, write, or even sleep, saying “I

feigned sleep until my mother left for school, but even my eyelids didn’t shut out the light.”

(Plath 123). A similar issue can be found in The Yellow Wallpaper as well, when the protagonist

says quite plainly “you see I don’t sleep.” (Gilman 653). Unlike Gilman’s protagonist who

manages to find solace in the fantasy of the wallpaper, Esther grows even more tired of her life

in this way, which leads to her eventual suicide attempt (Plath 169).

Through the course of these stories both characters are subject to very close kinds of

tiredness and exhaustion, but the results of this unrest clearly show vastly different effects on

their long-term mental health. Regardless of the result, however, it is plain to see that the

isolation and lack of stimulus provided increasingly unfortunate results in both characters.
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Works Cited

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." New England Magazine, 1892, pp. 647-56.

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. Harper & Row, 1971.